Independence campaigning spend: FOI release

Information requested

The amount spent on independence campaigning.

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested. The reason for this is because the Scottish Government does not engage in any sort of political campaigning therefore, no costs have been incurred on any political campaigns.

This is a formal notice under S.17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

Advice and assistance

To help you understand the terms of our response, I can advise that the Scottish Government has produced a range papers on the topic of an independent Scotland during the 2021–26 parliamentary term, and you can find details of the publication costs of them via the following links:

Building a New Scotland papers: costs - gov.scot

Your Right to Decide - Publication Costs

A Fresh Start with Independence: publication costs - gov.scot

Details of the Scottish Government’s independence related spending costs from previous parliamentary terms can be found at:

Independence spending 2014 – June 2022: FOI release - gov.scot

You may also find it helpful to note that it is not possible to provide some of the details of costs such as for staffing, because in line with usual practice, details of individual tasks carried out by civil servants, including the number of hours spent on them, are not routinely recorded as there is no business need to do this.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.